Help! Weak Beetroot seedlings (photo's attactched)

[hnesb]

Hello, my name is Harry!

This is my first post and my first time growing vegetables - I'm living in a student house in the centre of Liverpool and I've decided to grow some veg in containers in the back yard.

All was going well until I noticed that my one month old beetroot and swede plants have started to flop over and look a bit sick. The swede is suffering the most, in fact the leaves are beginning to brown, but I'm far more interested in saving the beetroot if I can.

I have heard about something called damping off disease - could this be the problem?

This is a photo of the beetroot (they're about 3 inches long). The soil is kept moist and they get about 5-6 hours of direct sunlight a day.

[SMS6]

maybe the soil is a little too moist it looks as if it's very compacted and crusted over. Let them dry out a little perhaps and see what happens.

loosen the soil up a little between the plants to stop a mossy appearance setting in

[hnesb]

Thanks SMS6 - it last rained on sunday, so they were without water for about 3 days. I gave them a light water yesterday (the soil was beginning to dry out) and noticed they were looking much more sick this morning. I will loosen up the soil a bit and give them a few more days. I really hope they don't die!

[hnesb]

I hadn't realised how compacted the soil had become - it's sunk about 3 inches since I filled the containers. I used a fork to gently loosen the soil around all the plants and used it to provide some support around their bases. They're all pointing upwards now, so hopefully they'll have a chance to thicken out and support themselves.

[SMS6]

Fingers crossed for you. Don't expect beetroot in the near future though, I find it a very long crop to wait for.

Or it could be just me

[teakdesk]

Welcome Harry!!

You do have drainage holes in the bottom of that container don't you?

[hnesb]

SMS6 - Ah yes, but the satisfaction of having homegrown beetroot soup will surely be worth the wait!

teakdesk - Yes I do, it's an old chest of drawers with about twelve 1" holes for drainage - I've checked after heavy rain and there is definitely no water-logging.